Sisters
by wellthen44
Summary: Peeta and Katniss are mentors. Katniss is in her first year of mentoring, and she is scared stiff. But she isn't very surprised when her sister gets reaped to join the 74th Hunger Games. The odds have never exactly been in her favor.
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

* * *

**Prim POV**

I dug my nails into my knees.

They were getting close.

I stared at the screen as Katniss wandered across the ice, relying on a small, flickering, dull torch for light. Her face was masked with fear as her feet crunched across the snow. She was the final person, besides Kelly from District Two, who wouldn't go down without a fight. But the two of them were all hopelessly lost in the blizzard.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and flinched. I looked to my left and saw Rory looking at me with his eyebrows creased with worry. "You need to calm down a little."

Calm down? Calm down!? Who was he to tell me to freaking calm down!? I was about to snap, but then I felt bad. I couldn't be angry at him. He had just witnessed Gale getting killed by an avalanche, and he was kind enough to stay with me while my mother stayed in her room and his mother went to his home to mourn, bringing Posy along. I felt something wet fall on my cheek and I realized I was crying.

I relaxed my shoulders slightly and removed my hands from my knees. I looked at my fingernails and saw that they had blood and skin caked underneath them. I let out a shaky breath.

Then I heard the crack.

My eyes darted back to the television and I saw that Kelly looked about as confused as I was. She stopped for a minute, looked around, and kept walking. She shuddered as a cold wind blew through her hair.

Then a few feet away from her, the ice cracked and caved in.

* * *

**Katniss POV**

I ran faster, my feet slipping through the icy snow. My lungs were dry and my heart was pounding and tears were streaming down my face. There wasn't anyplace that was close enough to go; the only high ground was the mountains, and they were miles away. Not to mention extremely dangerous with avalanches and snow lions and unstable rocks that could crush you in a second.

I slipped on the ice and fell face down. I looked up and saw that the ice was still falling into the water, heading closer and closer to the ice that I sat on. And I did not want to go into the water. One of the tributes, Kane, fell into the water and died immediately.

I got on my feet again, making sure I hadn't dropped any arrows, and started running again. I had dropped the torch on the snow, so I couldn't see a thing. But all I wanted to do was stay on the ice, so I didn't really need to see.

Then I banged into something.

No, someone.

Kelly.

I scrambled to my feet, just as she sent a knife flying towards me. I grabbed an arrow, put it in my bow, and sent it flying in her direction. I heard the thundering sound of the collapsing ice getting closer and closer to us. A knife grazed the side of my face and I cried out. The icy wind blew into the side if my face, making my cut sting. I reached into my sheath, but found no more arrows. My heart stopped.

Kelly snickered, clutching her last dagger in her hand so hard her knuckles turned white. "Any last words?"

My eyes trailed behind her, and to my surprise, I smiled. "Can you swim?"

She looked startled for a second. "Wha-"

But before she could respond, the ice under her gave away and she fell into the water. She kicked and screamed, but not for long.

Her cannon went off.


	2. Chapter 2

**Prim POV**

I woke up to hear Katniss screaming.

I sat up and clutched the top of my covers. It was a special Reaping day for us. It was my first Reaping, and Katniss's first Reaping as mentor. It scared me out of my mind, but all I could think about was Katniss, and how she would have to coach young kids for survival. At least she had Peeta, the other boy mentor besides Haymitch. He won the year before Katniss, and the two of them had grown pretty close after she returned. It made me happy to know that she had someone who understood her.

I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood up. I walked over to my closet and sighed. I had too much nice clothing. When Katniss won, we moved from our tiny, cozy house into a gigantic four story house in the Victor's Village with more money than we could've possibly needed. And it just didn't feel right.

I put on a white collar shirt, a pale brown sweater, and dark brown slacks. I draped my straight, blond hair over my shoulders and looked in my mirror. I tried to smile, but that smile that used to come so easily was forced and caused difficulty.

There was the faint sound of Katniss crawling out of bed, getting dressed, and walking downstairs. She said something to our mother and the front door opened and shut. There were still a few hours until the Reaping, and Katniss didn't want to waste a second. I didn't either.

I pulled on two black shoes with laces, pulled on my coat and cap, and walked downstairs. My mother was in the kitchen, drinking small sips of tea every couple of minutes. She looked fidgety, scratching the back of her head and tapping her foot. It made me more nervous than I already was. When she saw me, she smiled slightly.

"Hello Prim."

"Hi."

I sat across from her and pulled a bun out of the basket in the middle of the table. I broke it in half, smelled it, and took a small bite. "Peeta made these, didn't he?"

She nodded. "Came by this morning."

I grabbed three more, put them in my sack, got some cheese that I made with Lady's milk and stood up. "I'm heading out." I kissed her on the cheek and walked out the door. Normally, I would've never walked through the town without Katniss, but I had a friend I liked to visit. Alone.

I knocked on the front door and stood there for a minute. The door opened and Hazel stood there. She smiled when she saw me. "Hi Prim."

I smiled. "Is Rory here?"

Rory's head peaked through the doorway of one of the rooms. "Yeah."

Hazel walked away and Rory came to the door. He looked slightly paled and I didn't blame him. "Hey."

"Hi." Ever since the last Hunger Games, Rory and I had been spending more time with each other. Gale had died and Katniss was almost never around, doing interviews, spending time with Peeta, crying in bed, all sorts of stuff. And we became better friends than I think we ever could've. I held up my sack. "I got you some bread and cheese."

He smiled. "Thank you."

I shrugged it off. "It's nothing." He needed it then more than ever, and it cost me nothing. And he was my friend.

And I'd do anything for a friend.

* * *

**Katniss POV**

It used to make me uncomfortable.

Hunting by myself.

Even though I had done it before I met Gale, it still didn't feel right. It made me feel like a part of me had been taken out. I still got that feeling, but the missing piece seemed to be smaller, as if the cavity were getting filled up again.

But that day, that Reaping day, that very particular Reaping day, brought back that completely uneasy feeling, except five times worse. I was going to be mentor for the first time, and not to mention that it was Prim's first Reaping. They always bring the relatives of the Victors into the arena. It happened to every single one of them.

So why shouldn't it've happened to me?

Peeta told me not to worry. It was her first Reaping and her name was only in there once. She wouldn't get picked. But, I couldn't get rid of that uneasy feeling, no matter what Peeta said.

I pulled back my bow string and let my arrow fly into a squirrel's eye. It dropped into the lake, dead. I starred at it, and suddenly couldn't breathe. I didn't just see the squirrel's dead body, but I saw Kelly's dead body, floating as a ring of blood surrounded the corpse...

I shook my head and snapped out of it. I had to get a grip on myself. I couldn't afford to go into hysteria, not then. No, I had a job to do. I had to teach two kids how to survive without making them anymore worried than they already would've been, knowing that they had about a four percent chance of getting out alive.

But, I didn't really know how I could help them.

All that I did was get lucky.


	3. Chapter 3

**Katniss POV**

I looked at myself in the mirror.

I was wearing a pretty, blue dress that Cinna designed and had my dark hair in a braid down my shoulder. Even though I was just a mentor, I had to dress nicely. But I would've looked better if my face was so pale and if I could stop my hands from shaking. I walked out my door and down the stairs. My mother was upstairs, helping Prim get ready.

Quietly, I walked out the front door, down the front steps, and went to Haymitch's front door. I knocked. No answer. I knocked again. No answer. I knocked again. No answer. I turned the doorknob and the door swung open. I walked into his living room and found him passed out in a chair.

"Haymitch, wake up" I said. No answer.

I sighed and walked into the kitchen, got a basin of freezing cold water, and poured it all over his face. He shot up, a knife clutched in his hand with a crazy look in his eye. I took a step back.

He looked at me and scowled. "God dammit, don't do that."

"What? You told me to wake you up an hour before the Reaping. And I didn't feel like waiting for you to wake up." I crossed by arms across my chest.

He sat up. "You're not the only one who's feeling crappy today, sweetheart, so don't take it out on me." I just scowled and rolled my eyes, even though I knew he was right. I shouldn't have done it, but I didn't care anymore. I didn't seem to care about anything anymore. It's surprising; with everything I lost, it's like I lost a piece of my heart too.

Little did I know I'd lose so much more.

* * *

I left Haymitch's as soon as I possibly could and decided to stop by Peeta's house. I walked up his front steps and knocked on the door.

"Come in" a voice called from inside. I opened the door and saw his sister, Nadia, reading a book on the couch. She looked up at me and smiled. Nadia reminded me a lot of Prim; they both had crystal blue eyes and blond hair that they liked to braid. And their personalities were the same too; they were both sweet and always thinking of others. But they weren't friends or anything, which surprised me.

"You look nice" she said.

"You too" I said. And she did, with that green dress that fit her perfectly. "Is Peeta in?"

"Yeah, he's upstairs" she said. "You can go up if you want."

"Thanks." I walked up the stairs and went into his room. I'd been to his house before, so I knew exactly where to go. I knocked on his door.

"Yeah?" he asked from inside.

"It's Katniss" I said.

"You can come in" he said. I pushed the door open and saw him sitting on his bed, staring out his window. His blond curls were neatly combed back and he was wearing a blue suit that the Capitol designed. I sat next to him and waited for him to say something, but he didn't.

"What're you thinking about?" I asked quietly. He shrugged slightly.

"I don't know. I'm just... tired, I guess." I nodded, even though I knew that he was lying. But I knew better than to bug him, especially since I knew what was going through his head.

We sat there for a minute, staring out the window. I saw a girl who looked about fifteen, hugging her crying mother on their front porch. My heart wrenched.

"We better go" I said, tearing my eyes from the window.

Peeta sat for a minute, then stood. "Yeah. We better."

* * *

**Prim POV**

My mother braided my hair quietly. She looked nervous, but she had a way of containing it. She was focused on fixing my hair, not at why she was fixing it. It was one of the reasons I secretly admired her, no matter how much Katniss hated her.

"There" she said quietly, stepping away from me. I looked in the mirror and saw my hair in two perfect braids.

"Thank you" I said quietly. She nodded. I looked back at the mirror and looked at my blue skirt and blouse. They used to be Katniss's, but they got too small for her and fit me just right.

There was a small knock on the door and someone opened it. I turned around to see Katniss standing in the doorframe. She wasn't wearing my mother's blue dress like she did for the reaping the year before, but instead, a blue dress that the Capitol made, tight and silky and dazzling. Honestly, I thought our mother's dress looked better, but she was still beautiful. As always.

She smirked slightly when she saw me. She walked up to me and tucked my shirt in behind me. "You better tuck that tail in, little duck."

I wrinkled my nose. "Quack."

She laughed a little. "Quack yourself."

I heard the door open downstairs and we walked down. I saw Peeta and Nadia standing there, waiting for us. Peeta and Katniss started talking quietly and I walked over to Nadia. Many people thought we were twins, but her hair was curly and her nose was more round. She was nice, but we never really talked much. I spent more time with Rory than anyone.

She smiled a fake smile. "Hi Prim."

"Hi Nadia" I said with a fake smile. Neither of us had a reason to smile, since we both had the highest risk of getting picked to go into an arena and die...

* * *

**Katniss POV**

When we walked to the town square for the reaping, Prim gripped my hand so tightly she probably popped something. But that wasn't as nearly as bad as what I did to Peeta's hand; I swore I broke each of his fingers.

Prim walked to the girl's section, but not before giving me a scared glance. I gave her a reassuring smile and she kept walking. I turned to see Peeta hugging Nadia. It occurred to me that since it was Nadia's first reaping too, that she could've gotten picked. But that wouldn't make it any better.

Peeta clutched my hand and we walked to the stage. We sat next to each other and I saw Nadia and Prim talking to each other quietly in the crowd. Maybe they would become friends. That would be sweet.

Then Haymitch belched from next to Peeta and I rolled my eyes. He was as drunk as ever.

After a few minutes of tension, Effie Trinket, the district escort, walked onto the stage and tapped the microphone. "Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor!" She went on, being all bubbly and perky which made me want to just bang my head on a wall. I glanced at Peeta and saw he had his mouth in a straight line.

The film that they showed every reaping was put on. I already knew what it was all about; how in punishment for the district's uprising, each district must provide one girl and boy to participate in the Hunger Games. The twenty-four tributes will be imprisoned in a vast outdoor arena that could hold anything from a sweltering desert to a frozen wasteland...

Over a period of weeks, the competitors must fight to the death. The last one standing wins. This is the Capitol's way of showing us that we are totally at their mercy, how little chance we will survive another rebellion. But whatever words they use, the message is clear: "Look at how we take your children and sacrifice them and there's nothing you can do. And if you even lift a finger, we will destroy every last one of you. Just as we did to District Thirteen."

The film ended and Effie fixed her pink wig. "Let us begin! Ladies first!" Peeta and I clutched each other's hands tighter.

Effie walked over to the bowl and twiddled her fingers around, as if mocking us. Just pick the slip! Or better yet, don't...

She picked a random slip, opened it painfully slowly, and read the name aloud.

"Primrose Everdeen."


End file.
